"Game-changer": EPA's $500M 'green bank' investment poised to reshape WV energy future

Its coal-reliant FirstEnergy customers are adjusting to double-digit electric rate increases after the utility abandoned its 2030 greenhouse gas target.

Its coal magnate governor just vetoed legislation that would have increased the state’s cap on how much capacity a renewable electric facility can generate.

With more extreme weather patterns in store for West Virginia due to climate change, Donna Gambrell wants the region’s residents to see that more green in their energy could mean more green in their pocket.

Gambrell is president and CEO of Appalachian Community Capital, a Christiansburg, Virginia-based lending intermediary that raises capital for member community development financial institutions. The organization has worked with community lenders for a decade.

“I would just encourage everybody, whether you’re in West Virginia or in other parts of the region, to look at those alternatives,� Gambrell said in a phone interview Thursday. “Look at ways in which you should save on your energy bill, the way families can save as well, and what that may mean in terms of not only lower costs but an increase in health, quality of education — all of that is really intermingled.�

That’s how Gambrell wants West Virginians to think about a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announcement Thursday suggesting their state is about to get a lot greener through her organization.

A national ‘clean financing’ network from Washington

The EPA selected Appalachian Community Capital for a $500 million award out of $20 billion allotted through grant competition for greenhouse gas reduction funding enabled by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Appalachian Community Capital will use the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award to launch the Green Bank for Rural America to deliver capital and technical assistance to hundreds of community lenders to establish climate and clean energy projects in coal, energy, underserved rural, and Tribal communities throughout the country.

Proponents say the national “clean financing� network the Biden administration aims to create through the $20 billion in funding will unlock private capital that slashes climate-harming pollution while lowering energy costs, enhancing public health and creating good-paying clean energy jobs in low-income and disadvantaged communities like those prevalent throughout West Virginia.

“We know that we have the capacity, with this approach, to empower communities to decide which projects they want that will have the greatest impact from their perspective in the place they call home,� Vice President Kamala Harris said at a grant-funding announcement Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“This is a game-changer for our region to build on decades of work to show the potential for growth of this industry,� Amanda Woodrum, co-director for ReImagine Appalachia, a regional coalition of community and environmental advocates, said in a statement Thursday.

Under the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator funding competition, Appalachian Community Capital and four other selected applicants will provide capitalization funding, usually up to $10 million per community lender, technical assistance subawards typically up to $1 million per community lender, and technical assistance services for community lenders.

Qualified projects include distributed energy, net-zero buildings and zero-emissions transportation plans.

“There’ll be things like transportation, charging stations, school buses, public transit … new multi-unit residential buildings,� Gambrell said.

Funding decisions made for the Green Bank for Rural America will come from a steering committee that includes West Virginia Community Development Hub executive director Stephanie Tyree and Coalfield Development executive president Brandon Dennison. The former organization is a ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä-based community engagement organization group. The latter is a Huntington-based workforce development nonprofit.

“As major green investments scale, having a well-trained green-collar workforce becomes more important than ever,� Dennison said in an email. “There are good-paying jobs that will come with Green Bank deals, and I applaud ACC focusing on connecting unemployed community members with these new opportunities.�

Appalachian Community Capital’s project proposal reported letters of interest from 59 community lenders covering all 10 EPA regions requesting $678 million in capitalization funding, with asset sizes ranging from $4 million to over $1 billion in assets and staff sizes ranging from two to over 400 employees.

The billions allotted for low-income and disadvantaged communities is just the latest splash in a wave of investments made through federal funding positioned to green West Virginia’s horizon.

“In West Virginia and in the rest of the region, people are still looking at ways in which they can diversify the economy,� Gambrell said.

Climate legislation has raised interest in workers

Last month, the Department of Energy announced a $129 million federal cost share for a utility-scale Nicholas County solar project through a $500 million mine land clean energy demonstration program created through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by Biden.

Selectee Nicholas County Solar Project LLC, a subsidiary of utility-scale solar and energy storage project development company Savion LLC, has proposed a 250-megawatt solar energy and 75-megawatt battery storage project that would produce enough clean electricity to power roughly 39,000 West Virginia homes.

Savion spokesperson Johnna Guinty noted the project is estimated to be completed in 2028 on the old Wildcat mine near Summersville. The Department of Energy said a community benefits plan project developers submitted included an expectation of 400 construction and four operations jobs to be created through the project.

When asked for the community benefits plan, Guinty said in an email there was “no specific plan available to provide at this stage.�

The Department of Energy said the Savion subsidiary and the West Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a project labor agreement.

Both parties declined to share the memorandum. Justin Williams, director of Affiliated Construction Trades, an affiliate of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä-based West Virginia Building & Construction Trades Council, said the basic concept is that if the project goes to construction, the owner and its contractors will work with the local building trades to try to negotiate an agreement ensuring the use of local workers during construction.

Williams said the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, both massive investments in climate and green energy development approved by what was then a Democratic-controlled Congress, have brought more job opportunities for trades members.

The laws have resulted in more focus on infrastructure and energy projects, both with public monies and increased private investments in those types of projects, Williams said. The laws have increased the council’s ability to highlight skilled workers it represents and training programs it participates in.

Williams reported increased interest in working with local career and technical education institutions as well as working to get apprentices and journey workers more opportunities to continue their education with the possibility of getting an associate’s degree.

Last month, the Department of Energy announced a federal cost share of up to $75 million to support Constellium’s deployment of a zero-carbon aluminum casting plant to be the first of its kind in the United States at its Ravenswood facility in Jackson County.

The award was part of up to $6 billion for 33 projects across more than 20 states funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act to decarbonize energy-intensive industries like aluminum, cement, steel and glass.

Constellium spokesperson Teresa Kerns indicated the company expects to invest roughly $80 million to match the federal investment over the next four to five years. Initial project startup of the first new cast center is slated for late 2026, with a second new cast center startup planned for mid-2028.

Kerns said the project community benefits plan includes a new training and wellness center for all employees and onsite child care for employees. But Kerns declined to share the plan, saying it’s too early to include details as the plan will be negotiated with the Department of Energy as part of the selection process in coming months.

Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a national coalition of labor and environmental groups, urged the EPA and climate financing selectees announced Thursday like Appalachian Community Capital to “adhere to high-road labor standards� to ensure jobs created are safe, good-paying union jobs in a statement Thursday.

Appalachian Community Capital listed a goal of $500 million of direct investment in workforce development, plus nearly 5,500 total green lending transactions covering all 10 EPA regions, in its proposal.

Appalachian Community Capital estimated the Green Bank for Rural America plan would create 26,000 construction and 11,000 permanent jobs and train more than 11,000 people. The workforce development plan is designed to provide technical assistance so that 80% of jobs are “quality jobs that pay a living wage with benefits,� per the plan.

Coalfield Development developed the Green Bank for Rural America’s labor and equitable workforce plan. The plan includes paid on-the-job training, provision of supportive services like child care, assistance to address health issues, mental health issues that include substance abuse disorders, transportation limitations, housing insecurity and “justice involvement.�

“I certainly want to make sure that we are talking with the unions as well and getting a better understanding of what they need in terms of jobs as well,� Gambrell said. “So we absolutely have had that door open.�

Project goals include $4.5 billion in investments

The Appalachian Community Capital proposal lists climate benefit goals, if it had been given a $1 billion award, of:

• $4.5 billion of investments in 5,500 clean energy projects through 2030
• 2.8 million megawatt-hours of annual reduction in energy generation from carbon-based sources
• 1,300 megawatts of clean energy generation or storage installed through 2030
• 2.4 million tons of annual carbon emission reduction from financing buildings and transportation

Gambrell noted Appalachian Community Capital’s grant period is six years and reported an EPA estimate of roughly two months to work through agreement details before funding is in place to allow programs to launch in June or July.

As a dropping number of West Virginians faces a future of rising extreme weather disruptions that threaten greater flooding, electric outages and infrastructure vulnerability, Gambrell is ready for the Green Bank to help fund a less costly future for them.

“This is going to be a real journey,’ Gambrell said. “It’s going to take some time, and I think we’re up to the job.�